[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning, good morning. today is november 14. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our studio on capitol hill just down the street from the united states capitol building where members of congress came back to town, gathered in session yesterday, got down to work on the fiscal cliff and republicans in congress say they're more than ready to compromise. if president obama will only accept the -- endorse mitt

romney's plan for the budget, they say they will agree. well guess what. that's not how it works! remember what happened on november 6th? obama won! romney lost! it is up to them to accept obama's plan. we'll tell you why and get your calls but first we take the latest here, today's current news update from lisa ferguson out in los angeles has got it for us. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. lawmakers could finally get the answers they're demanding today in the investigation into former c.i.a. director david petraeus. the fbi and c.i.a. say they will brief members of the house and senate intelligence committees laying out how they handled the case and standing by their claim that politics were not involved in their decision to keep lawmakers in the dark. at least four people are now caught up in the investigation. along with petraeus and paula broadwell, there is jill kelley and top afghanistan commander

john allen. the pentagon is now investigating general allen for allegedly sending thousands of inappropriate e-mails to kelley but allen is saying he did nothing wrong and the president and the army are standing by him. >> the president thinks very highly of general allen and his service to his country. as well as the job he has done in afghanistan. >> i believe john allen until somebody proves otherwise i believe that he did nothing inappropriate. >> that was white house spokesman jay carney and former army vice chief of staff peter tee ellie. jill kelley also received threatening letters from paula broadwell. now a 911 call is coming to light of kelley telling dispatchers saying she needed diplomatic protection. as the scandal widens, broadwell is holing herself up in the home of her brother near rock creek park. a jogger found broadwell's lost driver's license in the park and turned into the police. more bill is right after the

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: the david petraeus soap opera continues. to dominate the news. what do you say? hello, everybody. good morning. wednesday morning. november 14. great to see you today. this is the "full court press." here we go. with our roundup of the news of the day. and your chance to sound off about everything that's going on whether it's in the david

petraeus sex scandal or what's happening here with the fiscal cliff negotiations in washington, d.c. president obama at the white house yesterday holding his first meeting with labor leaders and leaders of progressive organizations. i saw many of our friends there at the white house yesterday. to start talking about what we're going to demand, what we can expect to get and where we go with the negotiations over the fiscal cliff. it is a busy, busy wednesday. we'll get right into it. and look forward to hearing from you at 1-866-55-press. you know that's our toll free number. 1-866-55-press. look forward to your comments on twitter at bpshow, facebook, join us facebook.com/billpress show. and in the chat room, you've got a chance to join your fellow "full court pressers" across the land and talk about the issues and we'll check in on the chat room every once in awhile. you talk about the issues as we're debating them on the air.

it is a glorious wednesday morning here, november 14. president obama has a big news conference scheduled. his first one in a long time. certainly first one post-election. news conference scheduled at 1:30 in the east room of the white house today and of course, as always, i will be there. we welcome you and welcome team press here this morning. peter ogborn enjoying some time off with his family. dan henning. >> good morning. >> bill: no time off for dan. he's here doing double duty with the help of cyprian bowlding, our videographer as always. keeping the cameras rolling. phil backert ready to take your calls. he's on the phones this morning. among those members of congress, coming back from their extended seven-week break all wrapped around the elections was none other than paul ryan who at one

time, had a little more prominence as the vice presidential nominee of the republican party. now, he's just that old guy from wisconsin who is just one of 435 members of congress. yesterday he talked to abc. he said losing this election is not exactly what we expected to happen. >> going into boston that day we felt like we had a pretty darn good chance of winning. so as you can imagine, it was a bit of a shock when we didn't win. just the way these things go. >> cry me a river. >> bill: had a pretty darn good chance of winning. we didn't do our homework. we didn't know all of those people would come out and vote for obama. yeah because they didn't have any intelligence or ground organization. they ran a crappy, lousy campaign. but, of course, paul ryan ever in denial says don't read too much into obama's victory. >> i don't think so because

they -- the house republicans. whether people intended or not we've got divided government. >> bill: he says obama didn't have any mandate because they still have the house of representatives. get out of here, dude. come on. president obama, what do you want, president obama won the popular vote, three and a half million. he won the electoral college by 126-vote margin. that's pretty substantial. he won eight out of nine battleground states. only lost north carolina by less than 100,000 votes. democrats picked up, held on to the senate and everybody said they were going to lose it. not only held on to the senate, picture up two seats in the senate and democrats picture up eight to ten seats -- some seats are still not called yet. in the house of representatives. so it was a romp for democrats. they didn't take back control of the house. but there's no doubt about it. the american people rejected romney and ryan.

all right. talk about good democratic members of the congress, back in town barbara lee from california is and she'll be here today. so will donna edwards from the state of maryland and of course, eliot spitzer host of "viewpoint" on current tv joins us as he does every wednesday morning. and here's the deal. here's the question. one final shot at general petraeus. if his e-mails were not secure, are yours? are mine? something to think about. privacy out the window. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> on this wednesday some other headlines making news, the perk of being first lady. michelle obama is such a big fan of the hit pbs series abby that her office asked for an advance copy of the upcoming season of the program and got from the producer from the united kingdom. the show's third season is currently airing over there in

great britain but it doesn't air here in the u.s. until january. the hill reports the producers were more than happy to send mrs. obama dvds of the current season so long as she would not spoil the episodes for the rest of the entire country. >> bill: you have to have friends over to the white house to watch it. >> it could start spreading. joe biden had a cool meeting yesterday. the vice president got together with bono, lead singer of the rock band u2. they talked about global development, a.i.d.s. and fighting poverty. he's is in town for several meetings. >> bill: the reporters, i was at the briefing yesterday reporters went bonkers because suddenly there were rumors that bono was walking out of the west wing and people flew out of the briefing room to chase bono down the driveway then later they went chasing jim messina the campaign manager. they weren't together. it was two different times so at the briefing, somebody said hey

wait a minute. both jim messina and bono were seen leaving the west wing. what was going on? jay carney said you just saw the makings of the next great band. >> bono and messina. >> plenty of americans will hit the road for thanksgiving next week. 44 million people are .7% more than last year will travel 50 miles or more which is the fourth consecutive year increase of travel. it is a good sign according to aaa but still not a huge jump. mostly because of high gas prices. >> bill: what did john say yesterday? 24 million. >> on airplanes. >> bill: 24 million flying. anybody staying home for thanksgiving? i don't know. doesn't seem like it. we've gotta dip in one more time. one more day here. to the petraeus soap opera. come on, don't tell me you're not enjoying it. it is pretty messy.

it is probably the steamiest sleaziest, silliest sex scandal soap opera that we've seen on national television and that's really saying something. and every day it seems as dianne feinstein yesterday one more layer of the onion gets unpeeled. i mean the latest is the fbi agent that originally launched this investigation, the friend of jill kelley down in tampa the first one that she told, getting the e-mails. they're pretty threatening to me. i feel they're threatening, i don't know where they're coming from. he launches the investigation. turns out that this guy had been sending himself -- sending jill kelley online, photos of himself without a shirt on, you know his whole macho build. because he was having that e-mail relationship.

that's all we know of with jill kelley. he was forced to drop out of the case. excuse himself from anything to do with the case. then also we found out yesterday that the fbi searched the home of paula broadwell down in tampa. in charlotte. she lives in charlotte north carolina. and they found some low-level security documents not -- no threat to national security but stuff that's questioned about how she would have gotten them and why she would have had them. david petraeus insists he wasn't the source. paula broadwell insists he was not the source of those. he didn't say how she got them. that's going on. and now there are more and more questions about the role of the fbi at the briefing yesterday there were so many questions about this and people kept asking jay carney whether the

president was -- saw this thing coming. carney said no way boy. he was just as surprised as everybody else. >> the president was certainly surprised when he was informed about the situation regarding general petraeus on thursday. he greatly appreciates general petraeus' remarkable service to his country. both in uniform and at the c.i.a. >> bill: carney said also that the president was surprised to learn that general allen our top general in afghanistan was having this e-mail relationship with this other woman jill kelley. at leon panetta's defense secretary's request the president has put the nomination of general allen to be the new nato commander in europe on hold, pending a pentagon investigation. but jay carney insisted that the president still has highest regard for general john allen. >> the president thinks very

highly of general allen and his service to his country as well as the job he's done in afghanistan. >> bill: but the question remains if the white house didn't know and the other questions that jay carney was getting yesterday were about the protocol for the fbi. should the fbi have told the president sooner and jay carney kept saying look, the fbi's got its protocol when it is doing an investigation like this. they followed their protocol and we're not going to demand they change their protocol or whatever. but there are a lot of questions being raised is -- over the fact that the white house was not informed, members of the -- leaders of the intelligence committees in the house and senate were not informed by the fbi. but one fbi agent went to david reichert, a republican congressman from washington state last month in october and then he went to -- because reichert said you ought to talk

to the house leadership about this. he goes to eric cantor. so was this -- the fbi at least a couple of agents there did they have a political agenda here? it seems to me that they did. why would you go to eric cantor? one reason. you want him to blow the whistle and blame this on obama. and that didn't happen. obama's untouched by this whole scandal. the real question about the role of the fbi and their relationship with eric cantor. and then i guess the question remains on that, is this, in the end, two questions for you. one, is this in the end is the media making too much of this? are we all making too much of this? because there's no breach of national security. in the end, is this anything more than the classic old case that we've seen with john edwards or john ensign or bill clinton, men in power is

attracted to certain women. women want to get close to him. he says hey let's rock n' roll. and there you go. it happens over and over again. you know who said that yesterday. i never thought i would end up agreeing with this man about anything. crazy old pat robertson. >> i think the term is -- propinkity going on. >> i think a lot is the word. >> well, i mean who knows. the man is off in a foreign land and he's lonely and here's a good-looking lady throwing herself at him. he's a man. >> bill: other than blaming it all on paula broadwell i think pat robertson is on to something. is this anything more than propink quit? 1-866-55-press. then what about privacy? if petraeus' privacy is not

secure, what about your privacy and mine? 1-866-55-press. "full court press." wednesday morning. here we go. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv.

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 24 minutes after the hour. the petraeus scandal certainly raises issues of what happens to your e-mails and my e-mails and are they ever gone forever? obviously david petraeus would say no no, no.

back to your calls here in just a second. but first i hear from people every day who are struggling, still struggling, a lot of them without jobs. a lot of them not making enough to pay the bills at the end of the month. for those of you in that category, here's something you should consider. incomeathome.com. it is america's leading work from home business. doing business in over 80 countries. they know what they're doing and they're offering you an opportunity that's easy to take advantage of no matter your age education or experience. you can literally earn money on your own computer from your own kitchen table 24/7. so if you are sick of living paycheck to paycheck and worried about job security retirement, if your goal is to earn some extra money from home part-time or even full time, check out incomeathome.com. they're adding my listeners in record numbers and even giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. visit incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com.

on the issue of privacy that's the story on the front page of "the new york times" this morning. that points out that here is something that civil libertarians, those who really care about the fourth amendment have been worried about for a long time and warning about for a long time that -- to read from this article by scott shane on the front page of "the new york times," they're worried that in policing the web for crime espionage and sabotage, government investigators will unavoidably invade the private lives of americans. they point out that private personal messages are stored for years on computer servers even if you delete them, available to be discovered by investigators who may be looking into completely unrelated matters. which seems to be the case here in the petraeus -- so are any of

us safe? charles in tampa florida. what do you say? good morning. >> caller: good morning, sir. i would like to say i'm fine with what the fbi agent did. it shows that -- it is a nonissue. >> bill: i give cantor credit. he didn't try to make a big political deal out of this. he went right to robert mueller and said i just want to be sure you know what's going on here. right? the head of the fbi. but why would this fbi agent -- that doesn't follow protocol. seems to me he broke protocol. why would he go to a republican member of congress and blow the whistle here? >> was he with the intelligence community? >> bill: no. i know that answer. >> caller: i don't understand why he would do that. >> bill: your second point.

>> caller: other than that i think the media is driving this thing. we've got bigger problems than having two generals corresponding or doing whatever they are with a woman. i think we have bigger problems than two generals, sir. >> bill: charles, i couldn't agree more. i was sitting at a restaurant last night the screens were on and everywhere you looked, all you saw all night long, all night long, right was general petraeus general petraeus, general petraeus. and i didn't see any conversation about the fact that unless congress comes to some agreement with the white house we are going to have a fiscal crisis that makes the crash of 2008 look like a picnic. so that's what we really ought to be talking more about when we come back. eliot spitzer, we'll get his take on how we get out and avoid the fiscal cliff coming up next. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>>tax cuts don't create jobs. the golden years as the conservatives call them, we had the highest tax rates, and the highest amount of growth, and the highest amount of jobs. those are facts. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: hey 33 minutes after the hour now. here we go. wednesday, november 14. the "full court press" coming to you live from our nation's capital. brought to you today by afscme the good men and women of afscme under president lee saunders. he was there at the meeting with president obama yesterday. you saw him leaving the white house. they're the -- afscme is the largest employee and public healthcare union in the country. find out more information about their good work at afscme.org.

and out for dinner last night the great little restaurant called riff's here in washington, d.c. i met riss herself who is the owner and founder of this restaurant. she was saying how much she loved current tv. she said they've got those great people on in the evening like joy behar and eliot spitzer. here he is joining us as he does every morning. host of "viewpoint." you have your fans here in washington, d.c. >> eliot: i'll get the address of the restaurant and head throughout for dinner. >> bill: you go by, she'll treat you well. great restaurant by the way. so the president eliot is coming up to new york tomorrow to survey storm damage. i wanted to ask you we talked last week and you mentioned where you are fortunate enough to live, didn't you have any impact of sandy. but are there still people who are hurting without power? >> eliot: this is devastation

the likes of which you have a hard time imagining. it is localized in certain parts of the south shore of long island, staten island parts of new jersey where the storm surge was just so powerful destroyed neighborhoods, caused fires. homes destroyed. still tens of thousands of people without power heat, hot water and it is devastation of an order of magnitude that people aren't used to imagining and it is going to take a long time to rebuild and the long island power authority is doing a tremendous job. >> bill: the people are pretty pissed off understandably. >> eliot: there is a cycle of emotions when you first make it through. there is a sense of relief, we survived and a sense of thankfulness for those who are there understandably but two weeks later three weeks later you get the anger and the frustration and that's understandable well. there is to have to be some accountable here. >> bill: it came as a surprise in a -- we're so a. d. d. as a

people. we talk about and sandy and now we moved on but to hear the president is going up to survey storm damage, a lot of people in the press were saying i thought that was over. well what you're telling us is it's not. >> eliot: the other lesson is the reason the devastation is so deep and hard to get power back is we haven't invested in infrastructure. we need to build this. you can't build and rely upon a power system that hasn't had the money put back into it to get the cables, the transformers, ready for the national disasters that we know are going to happen. we know this. we just don't act on it. >> bill: right. of course, that does speak to the inaction here in congress. people are hoping that in this -- i don't know why they're hoping but in this lame duck session, we're going to see some cooperation between the white house and republican leadership in congress to avoid the fiscal cliff. you've been talking to a lot of these on your show. what's your read? >> eliot: well, you know, how can you be against cooperation?

on the other hand, i think the important message is get it right. which means the president has got to do what we think he is, doing which is hanging tough. everybody says elections have consequences and now is the time when we see it. the deal the president had offered last year when there was -- after the 2010 midterm elections which were a debacle going into 2012, everybody said you have to negotiate compromise, he put on the table a deal that was $10 of cuts for every $1 of revenue raised. the republicans said no to that. now the numbers have got to be flipped because that's what's appropriate economically and the politics of the nation are reflecting and so the president's gotta hang tough and i think that's what he was told yesterday -- not that he didn't understand it. i think the union leaders and others who met with him yesterday said look, we're with you. we won this election. now you've got to do what the spub demanding which is fairness and good economics at the same time. >> bill: that's what they told him. i talked to several of them as they were leaving the meeting yesterday and they said that that's what the president told

them too. don't worry about me. i know where we're going and i'm committed to it. first, immediate goal is this continuing the tax cuts for everybody making -- for all americans -- for any income under $250,000 a year. basically for the 98%, right of the americans that fall into that category. that's passed the senate. it is in the house. don't you think that ought to be an easy one for republicans? >> eliot: it should be especially because the leverage moves in our direction on january 1 because all of the tax cuts are repealed. taxes go up for everybody at which point the senate looks at the house and says hey guys, we passed a tax cut for the middle class. you're not passing it. it is a very simple bill. pass the tax cut for the middle class. you want to deal with tax cuts for the rich, that's on your back. we've passed a tax bill for the middle class. on january 1, the reason the tax cuts won't be there house republicans full stop.

>> bill: this is a no-brainer that even a john boehner or mitch mcconnell have to see they cannot survive politically and oppose that. >> eliot: one would hope so. this is one where you want the president to watch the days and watch and say i'm not moving. this is your fault. >> bill: right. then here's the latest wrinkle. i'm sure you saw yesterday some democrats now say that they're buying the mitt romney plan, if you will, of let's not raise tax rates. let's just close loopholes. right. can you get there -- two-fold question eliot. i hate to put you on the spot. one is what's wrong with raising tax rates and two can you get there just by closing loopholes? >> eliot: nothing and no. nothing wrong with raising the rates on the top folks including me including the president including -- >> bill: and me.

>> eliot: this is what this campaign was about. the president spoke to it eloquently. bill clinton. every economic study. i wrote my editorial on my show the other night the congressional research service just came out with a study saying there will be no negative impact on the economy. none. all of this malarkey about hurting job creators, simply wrong. raise the rates 3.6%. whatever it is. 4.6% and we'll get a lot of additional revenue and it will help balance the budget. no negative economics. it is fair. it is right. now the other thing is -- >> bill: by the way that's what they all said when bill clinton passed his plan, too. remember, newt gingrich said recession, recession recession. it was a boom! >> eliot: exactly. >> bill: how about the rates? >> eliot: then the notion of -- >> bill: or the loopholes i'm sorry. >> eliot: closing the loopholes, look, the only loopholes you could close that would get you close enough to the revenue would kill the middle class.

mortgage deduction charitable deduction, state and local deduction. those would kill the middle class. every time you go through the list even with republican legislators, they say we can't do that. their idea of limiting each person to $35,000 of deductions is an intriguing idea and would actually cause the wealthy to pay more taxes but it doesn't get you anything close to enough revenue. remember, this was the idea that mitt romney put out in the debate. people said clever idea but does come close to what we need. >> bill: yesterday jay carney at the briefing said the president -- he's got his plan, right. he's convinced his plan is the right plan but he's also open to other ideas as long as the arithmetic adds up. basically, it gets back to that, doesn't it? always. >> eliot: bill clinton has made arithmetic popular again. third grade teachers around the country say ooh arithmetic is

cool. the presidents talk about that. >> bill: kids, this is why it is important. the one thing you have to give us credit for we know our arithmetic. and nobody has challenged the president's numbers actually do add up. >> eliot: i would like to see john john boehner give an arithmetic lesson. >> bill: i can't let you go without asking the question of the day that everybody is spending so much time on. should general petraeus have resigned? >> eliot: look, i'm going to give you an intriguing answer. i think he should have offered his resignation. i think the president should have turned it down. >> bill: good for you. so do i. >> eliot: honorable thing was for him to say i caused a problem on your watch. i should not be this burden to you. the president should have looked him in the eye as we understand the facts right now and said general petraeus, you have to deal with your issues at home, in the public. you'll take the reputational hit. you'll pay the price but you also serve your country. james traub on my show last

night made a fascinating point. one of the many reasons petraeus is important to this president is he guards his flight. when petraeus says the president wants to do, a b and c the republicans in congress have a hard time pushing back because petraeus has all of the credibility in the world. it will be hard to replace that. because petraeus was this nonpartisan bipartisan almost republican voice and on issues of intelligence and defense, he was a very important political ally to the president. >> bill: i think we would be better served if that had had been the scenario instead of what we saw. eliot, so great of you to spend time with us again this morning. >> eliot: always my pleasure. i'm going to call you for the name of the restaurant. >> bill: we'll sue -- see you tonight on "viewpoint." eliot spitzer. really great friend. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>that's an understatement, eliot.

>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. they're doing this this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>that's an understatement, eliot.

we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

>> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: 13 minutes before the top of the hour. congresswoman barbara lee from chicago -- chicago? whoa! from california! joining us at the top of the next hour. then derek thompson from the atlantic. and back to the issues of the day. but first here's something i think you ought to try out. and it's tryancestry.com. what it's all about is -- i've been involved in this. you've heard me talk about it

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tryancestry.com. tryancestry.com. dan, we've been talking about general petraeus here. what's the twitter world? >> you can follow us at bpshow at bpshow, you spoke with eliot spitzer about the fiscal cliff. mr. jk989 says tell congress and the president don't let the middle class at the bottom of said cliff. >> bill: good, good, good. >> we're on facebook at facebook.com/billpressshow. on petraeus and the investigation, marie green says i think it is tragic that our tax dollars are being spent on monitoring someone's personal life. who authorized this investigation and what was their motivation? >> bill: yeah. absolutely. i've been asking the same question. >> finally jan says j. edgar hoover is frozen in the basement waiting for the day when he can be raised from the dead. in the meantime, his eastel vibes are -- his eastel vibes are emanating from his resting

place. >> bill: on the fiscal cliff before we move along noah has a comment from chicago. >> caller: good morning. i think it is pretty simple. i think the republicans know that raising rates is effective and will actually deliver the revenues. i think that they know that finding loopholes is much harder. i say call their bluff and say raise the rates now and then if we can find loopholes that deliver the revenue targets that we need, we can either lower rates or we can -- i think that they know that it doesn't work. >> bill: i like that. i like that idea. i love the idea of calling their bluff. by the way i also like the idea of tell us exactly what loopholes you're willing to vote to close. we know that president obama last year tried to close a big loophole -- what was it? $4 billion or something like for oil and gas subsidies. the republicans said hell, no. we aren't going to hurt our oil

and gas conference. try to close the loophole for the $75,000 that mitt romney got on his dressage horse. yeah. romney himself would be leading the fight against that one. pardon me. good point. something else i wanted to mention. just got me -- really angry. and that is you know, the tea party, these guys will never ever give up. so they fight this campaign. they put up their tea party candidates. they lose in the primaries. they get stuck with mitt romney so then they all pull behind mitt romney. all part of the "the obama hate machine" which i wrote about in my latest book. president obama is re-elected. so you think they say okay. he's our president now. let's move forward. uh-huh. oh, no. tea party members in 20 states actually have filed petitions with the white house now they want the stateless to secede

from the union because they're not happy with the election. give me a freakin' break. i thought by the way i thought secession was you weren't suppose to the allow that to happen. i thought we fought a civil war over that. believe it or not pesks have been filed with the white house -- they have this thing at the white house, if you have 25,000 signatures on a petition, the white house has promised that they will respond. so tea partiers in -- get this, alabama, arkansas, colorado, florida, georgia indiana kentucky louisiana michigan, mississippi, missouri, montana new jersey new york, north carolina north dakota, oregon south carolina, tennessee and texas have all filed petitions saying they want to know whether they can secede from the union because barack obama has been re-elected. i mean come on! grow up. but by the way, remember rick perry, early on, in the first i

think one of the first rallies on tax day a few years ago he talked about texas. they didn't get the right tax policy. they were going to secede from the union. well rick perry has learned his lesson. yesterday he came out and threw cold water on the secessionists. >> people are free to do whatever people want to do. we've got a great country. >> bill: we've got a great country and rick perry says i'm staying right here. yeah. i think some of these people ought to be reminded we've been through this. we fought this. united we stand divided we fall. that's what the civil war was all about. you lost, losers. you lost. deal with it. barack obama is here for in our four years. i would say more but this is a radio show and television show and i can't say what i really think about it.

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>> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: okay. told you about pat robertson's take on the paula -- paula broadwell, yes david petraeus sex scandal. pat robertson says it is just -- he was over there a long time. away from his wife and this woman threw herself at him. so big deal. no big deal. wayne b. says hey pat robertson

is a dirty old preacher man. he always has something to say about other people when any kind of sex is the subject. gay or straight. rita disagrees with me. i'm sorry i think you're wrong in saying america needs to grow up and accept extramarital affairs. i didn't say that, rita. all i said is i don't think petraeus should have lost his job over it. frank says maybe we couldn't get obama out of the voter box. now we have something better, a sex scandal. we got bill clinton impeached. we're going to impeach this president as well and then john boehner will be president so ha, ha ha. ha ha, ha to you frank. this scandal does not touch barack obama. he didn't know about it. he didn't do it. he had nothing to do with it. eric cantor knew about it. maybe we should impeach eric cantor.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning everybody. welcome to the "full court press." this wednesday morning november 14. oh, man. lots going on. congress back in session and trying to deal with the fiscal cliff. so is president obama. all anybody is talking about is all of the latest with the david petraeus sex scandal. think about it. two generals, two famous generals, two top generals, two women. you got politics involved. you got the military involved. you got maybe national security documents involved.

i'm telling you, how long before we see the hollywood movie? which is going to be first? the book or the movie or the tv series? who knows. maybe all three. we'll get into that and a whole lot more here on our "full court press." we've got the ground covered for you from politics to sex scandals. first we get all of the latest. today's current news update, lisa ferguson standing by in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. president obama will hold the first news conference of his re-election and the first in eight months today at 1:30 in the east room. it is not quite the comeback the white house was hoping for thanks to the general david petraeus scandal. rather than focus on his victory and plans for the next four years, the president will face some tough questions on the investigation and on his plans to reshape his national security team. we can expect the media to bring up not only the fact that obama was unaware of the investigation but also the culture in

washington where trusted officials are behaving badly. all this is placing a lot of pressure on the president's team. not only will the administration need a new c.i.a. director, they'll also need to replace hillary clinton as circumstance of state and -- as secretary of state and there is talk of bringing in senator john kerry as secretary of defense. some conservatives are criticizing that decision, calling it an odd choice and saying he would do better as secretary of state. for that job though, the president is considering u.n. ambassador susan rice. g.o.p. strategist see this as a chance to re-examine the administration's handling of the attacks in benghazi. senior republican aide who spokane onomously to the "new york times" called rice the poster child for the idea of a white house cover-up. the senate rarely rejects a cabinet pick but this could be a long and painful process ahead of president obama. more bill press is coming up after the break. we're live in our chat room. join us there at

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>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: okay. we're on the brink of the fiscal cliff. are we going to avoid falling off? it is up to house republicans. and we're not sure whether they're going to play or not. good morning everybody. it is a big wednesday. wednesday, november 14. great to see you today. welcome, welcome. to the "full court press." coming to you live on your local progressive talk radio station all across this great land of ours. and on current tv.

good to you have with us. thanks for joining the program. whether you're watching or listening, you are the program. you make up the program. what you've got to say is important as anything i've got to say. we're glad you're there and invite you to sound off. let us know what you think about the big issues of the day. and you can do so in several ways. give us a call at 1-866-55-press. express your opinion on national radio and television. go to our -- twitter at -- follow us on twitter at bpshow. on facebook, facebook.com/billpressshow. and then the chat room, tons and tons of listeners and watchers talking about the issues among themselves. it is a lot of fun. go to current.com click on the chat room. are you in and we will monitor all of the above. and let you know what people are saying. peter ogborn's got the day off

otherwise team press is here intact starting with dan henning. >> hi, bill. >> bill: sir. cyprian bowlding. >> he called me sir. >> bill: i'll show you some respect. cyprian bowlding our videographer has the cameras going and phil backert is keeping track of the phones. it is -- week from tomorrow, turkey day. thanksgiving. people already talking about it. we're told that 44 million people will be hitting the highways to drive to grandma's house. this thanksgiving. and john pistol, the head of tsa yesterday says another 24 million i think it is, ready to hit the airports. >> we're anticipating over 24 million passengers traveling during the thanksgiving holiday period. >> bill: get there early i guess is the answer, right? get out of town early. or wait until thanksgiving day itself. we've flown on thanksgiving day.

>> that's seriously the day to do it. first thing in the morning. >> bill: also flown before on christmas day going away. that's the time. but john, so think about that. all of those people crushing the airports and trying to get through security but john pistol assures us we're ready for you. >> tsa will be fully staffed and prepared for the high volume of passengers this holiday season. >> do you believe it? >> bill: uh, no. you know why? because that's the time when people fly who never fly otherwise and a lot of them have never been through security line and they don't know they have to take their laptop out. they don't know they have to take their shoes off. they don't know they have to take all of the crap out of their pockets. i don't know how many people go through and then they come back, they have more stuff in their pockets, right? they don't take it all out and then they don't know they have to take their liquids out and they can't have the bottle of water or the great big size shampoo. you get all of those amateur flyers, i guess.

>> like peter ogborn finished the begin before he walked through security. >> bill: exactly. because you can't take it on. great line-up coming for you here. barbara lee will start us off from california. then congresswoman donna edwards from maryland up in the next hour. as well as charlie fink, one of our favorites, a member of the patriotic millionaires, willing to stand up and say yes we should pay more taxes and we are willing to! patriotic indeed. barbara lee next but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> of course checking other headlines making news on this wince. one of the stars of the hit abc show "modern family" gave her take on ann romney this week. mrs. romney said on the campaign trail that "mod everyone family" is her favorite television show. julie bowen said ann romney -- saying that on the trail is her way of letting everyone know that she had to say and do things she doesn't really

believe for the election. that's in reference to the fact that one of the couples on the show is gay and has a child. something that doesn't exactly go with the romney election plan. >> bill: exactly. you know, they were trying to get elected. >> president obama's re-election campaign manager is rewarding himself with a trip to italy for winning the election. the hill reports jim messina is jet setting across the pond for a few weeks to go off the grid as they say. he wants to figure out how to become an expert in red wine. no word if he'll permanently trade in his political skills for those of a vintner. >> bill: good for him. he deserves to take a little time off. >> absolutely. "motor trend" magazine is out with its annual car of the year award and it is a surprise. for the first time, a nongasoline-powered vehicle has received that honor. >> bill: what? >> the tesla model s is the 2013 car of the year. beat out other luxury and family style sedans from ford, bmw lexus, porsche and honda were in

the running. tesla is completely electric. sale price starts at $50,000. "motor trend" said it was the fastest american sedan that they tested. >> bill: whoa. maybe california i believe. but they're not selling a lot of teslas. they start at $50,000. >> they go up to $100,000, depending on how much battery life you want. >> bill: i've never seen one. >> good-looking cars. >> bill: i'll have to look it up when i have a chance. yes, indeed, members of congress came back to town and checked in yesterday officially. they're back in session and their first order of priority of course is to deal with the fiscal crisis. facing the nation. all of it due to kick in by the first of the year unless congress is able to come to some resolution of it. president obama's put his plan on the table. plans rejected in the past by republicans in the house of representatives. will they be anymore willing to work together since president

obama's been re-elected? and if there are going to be cuts, who is going to be impacted? all kinds of important questions we wanted to turn to. good friend from california, congresswoman barbara lee representing california's ninth congressional district. the great city of oakland california. hey, congresswoman, good morning. >> good morning. glad to be with you, bill. >> bill: glad to you have back here in town. i want to talk a little california before we get started on the fiscal cliff. so the big news california, jerry brown's proposition 30 which is kind of similar to what's been going on here in washington right? he couldn't get anything through the legislature so he went to the people and got his plan passed. >> yes, people in california really got it. they want their children's futures secured. and they're willing to pay a bit more to make sure that our kids have the quality public education that california prides itself on. so it was an uphill battle of course but governor brown took the leadership to really push

that prop 30 forward so the people of california have spoken. thank goodness. i hope that members of congress really understand that this is -- it is, bill, very similar to what happened. >> bill: yeah, it was a combination -- he didn't use all of the same rhetoric of president obama, the combination of spending cuts and tax increases and new revenue right? which has got to be the solution. >> absolutely. i think what we have to be careful of is that these cuts are proper cuts that they don't create havoc in the lives of the most vulnerable and low income individuals. >> bill: that's what i wanted to ask you about. do we know where these cuts would hit and who would be hardest hit by them? >> well, of course, across-the-board cuts, sequestration takes place, which of course, i could not support we're going to see this 8% to 10% cut across the board. so you're going to see children's programs cut. you're going to see other cuts,

some terrible, terrible cuts take place. that people really cannot tolerate. of course, we need to -- and i still say we need to make sure defense cuts are on the table because we're look at a defense budget that's full of waste fraud and abuse. and that's full of billions of dollars that are there for cold war era weapons systems research that doesn't make any sense and this new world of asymmetrical worker. they need to look at the wasteful programs. a 10% cut 8% cut on defense versus an 8% to 10% cut against for example the supplemental nutrition assistance programs, snap, that's not equal. so we cannot let that happen. >> bill: it sounds like you know, we hear the phrase safety net. it sounds like there won't be any safety net if these cuts come in. >> it will be totally gutted. you know, some call this the

fiscal cliff. it really is a human cliff. let me tell you, at the end of december unemployment insurance is going to end. for so many people. and when you look at the long-term unemployed, over 40% throughout 2010 and 2011, now we have -- for those who have been unemployed 27 weeks or longer. and so this is unprecedented. we've got to make sure that we extend unemployment benefits so that people at least have a bridge over troubled waters until we turn the economy around fully and create jobs. so that's another really safety net -- a program that's going to end if we don't do something. >> bill: which, by the way nobody but you is talking about. at least i haven't heard anybody else talk about the unemployment benefits. >> you know what, bill one of the things that troubles me is you never hear about the poor, low-income individuals the

working poor. i was on the platform committee. i was very proud to be on the 15-person drafting committee of the platform for the party. i made sure that we got in there. not only do we want to fight for the middle class but those aspiring to the middle class and striving for the middle class and low-income individuals that's not a political constituency. unfortunately it doesn't get factored in. so they're ignored. so some of us, you know, as progressives, have to keep putting that on the table. >> bill: absolutely. >> who's going to suffer the most. >> bill: we have to put it on the table. the republicans the only ones they think are suffering are the top 2% because the rates may go up. and i want to ask you about that too. so the senate has passed a bill that would extend the tax cuts, the bush tax cuts for -- on all income under $250,000 a year.

that covers 98% of americans really. don't make certainly any more than that if anything close to that. the house republicans won't even bring it up before a vote. would not before the election. do you think that's going to change now that they would at least let the tax cuts go through for 98% of americans? >> well, let's hope so because if they don't i think it is very clear now who they represent. and that's the 1%. >> bill: yeah. >> and i would hope that people that raise cane about that around the country. it is really the tea party republicans. i think there are some republicans who know that is only fair. when you look at how the strongholds, the tea party republicans have on the republican caucus, it is a shame and disgrace. so let's hope that 98% of americans don't -- >> bill: what you're saying is if boehner and cantor would let it come to the floor for a vote, you think enough republicans

would vote for it that it would pass? >> i'm not sure. did not pass last year. i don't see a real shift -- they came, first of all bill -- >> bill: it would be a tough vote, congresswoman, for them to vote against 98% of americans. >> well, they did it last two years. they came -- the congress dismantled government to protect the 1%. so they don't care about it, i don't think. they're very clear on who they represent. now, let's hope that this election changed some of the dynamics of the tea party but i haven't heard any of the tea party republicans which -- there are quite a few -- say that yes revenue should be on the table. yes, we care about the 98%. yes, they think we should have tax fairness. >> bill: finally, there is a lot of talk about closing loopholes, closing loopholes. one other program that people who care about the poor and the

middle class are worried about is the mortgage deduction -- mortgage interest deduction. is that on the chopping block do you believe? >> you know, you hear that. it surfaces periodically. i cannot imagine anyone would vote for that. that's really, in terms of middle income individuals that's probably their only major break that they have. that's the path to achieving the american dream is through homeownership and part of that has to do with the tax benefit of that because when we look at the equity in one's home as a result of the wall street scams people have lost tremendous equity in their homes and their accumulation of wealth has been just eroded. so what's left? but the mortgage interest tax -- so it does surface. you hear it bubbling up. but let's hope that the tea party republicans know that once again, that would be a tremendous hit on middle class individuals and those who are striving for the middle class.

>> bill: well, i'm glad somebody there congresswoman fighting for the middle class and fighting for those that we never hear, those striving for the middle class. you're on it. congresswoman barbara lee from california. you can follow her at lee.house.gov. thanks congresswoman. good to talk to you. >> good talking with you. >> bill: go get 'em! got a lot of work to do. democrats are i think feeling they want a big battle. now is the time to push their agenda. nobody doing it better than